A contingent of 19 athletes from the Wanaka Rowing Club attended the Canterbury Championships Regatta on January 16-17 at Lake Ruataniwha, competing in 28 events with entry into 14 A finals and 2 B finals.

The heats were held on Saturday (January 16) in hot, calm conditions perfect for racing. 

Sunday dawned raining and cold with a breeze that eventually caused the abandonment of the regatta with only a fraction of the finals completed, however there were some notable results from the A Finals that were completed. 

The under 16 girls double combination of Pipi Horan and Ruby Boyd converted their win in the heat to an emphatic win in the A final. 

The women’s under 19 quad of Pipi Horan, Emily Findlay, Bella Sarginson, Neve Faed and Thomas Mitchell as coxswain came second behind a very experienced Dunstan combination. 

Women's novice double sculls (L-R) Kelly Quirke and Ella Kaler.

The new women’s intermediate coxed quad combination of Neve Faed, Samara Goodall, Lyla Chamberlain, Hayley Ambrose and Thomas Mitchell as cox won their heat and went on to place third in the A final. 

The two doubles combinations of Bella Sarginson and Ruby Boyd along with Hayley Ambrose and Samara Goodall were both in the women’s intermediate doubles sculls event where they placed first and third respectively but were unable to race their A final.

The men’s novice double crew of Jem Curtis and Torben Craig showed a lot of potential placing third in their heat to qualify for the A final where they placed fifth. 

The women’s novice quad crew of Kelly Quirke, Ella Kaler, Amelia Craig, Jess Gould and Thomas Mitchell as coxswain were unlucky they did not get to race their A final as they showed a lot of potential placing third in their heat. 

Aaron Maxwell, who recently joined the club transferring from Oamaru, was also unlucky not to convert his second placings in the heats of both the men’s intermediate single sculls and double sculls events where he teamed up with Tao Hawkey-Hight. Both A finals were cancelled due to wind.

The athletes were supported by their coaches Rachel O’Connell, Matt Rickard and David Ayres who were joined by AJ Humphreys to compete in the Masters quad sculls event which they won. Rachel also convincingly won her woman’s masters single sculls event.

Club organisers said - apart from being blown off on the Sunday - the regatta was a great success and showed the crews are on track to perform well at the upcoming South Island Championships on January 30 - 31.

PHOTOS: Supplied